Gonzaga’s second exhibition game came together quickly, but not by accident. When the Bulldogs still needed an opponent last month, fourth-year assistant coach RJay Barsh reached out to Lewis-Clark State, setting in motion a matchup that will do more than fill a spot on the schedule.
The Warriors had already maxed out their calendar under NAIA rules, so a standard exhibition wasn’t an option. Barsh floated a different idea: make it a charity exhibition, with the proceeds going to Spokane wildfire victims.
From there, Lewis-Clark State coach Austin Johnson handled the petition, the NAIA approved it, and the game was set for 6 p.m. Wednesday at McCarthey Athletic Center.
It will air locally on KHQ.
Johnson also agreed to something that matters a lot to an NAIA program: Gonzaga will keep the Warriors’ $5,000 exhibition payment and donate it to the Karen Worthy Memorial Wildfire Grant, a fund Bulldogs coach Mark Few helped start for families affected by the Spokane Complex fires.
For Johnson, the decision had a personal layer. His in-laws evacuated their Indian Trail home and watched several nearby structures burn.
Former LCSC forward Jared Tikker, who is also the cousin of Johnson’s wife, Kelli, had to leave his home in Five Mile. Johnson’s friend Jeremy Groth, the men’s basketball coach at Spokane Colleges, lost his house in the fires.
“That’s one of the ways we’re getting the game is we promised the NAIA, we’re losing money, we’re spending money on gas and meals to go up there,” Johnson said. “We’re not making money. For me, it wasn’t just about getting the GU game, it was this can also be a good, positive thing.”
The Warriors know what kind of night is waiting for them. LCSC has visited Gonzaga three times under Johnson, and each trip has offered a chance to play inside the Kennel against a top-15 program while also giving some players a chance to reconnect with family and friends in Spokane. It has also usually meant getting a first look at the next elite Gonzaga frontcourt before the rest of the country sees it.
That happened again in 2024, when Graham Ike and Braden Huff scored 45 points combined in a 96-58 Gonzaga win. Three years earlier, LCSC got an early dose of Drew Timme and Chet Holmgren. In 2019, Filip Petrusev and Anton Watson combined for 50 in a 116-62 Bulldogs rout.
Wednesday’s version brings another size problem for the Warriors, who will have to deal with 7-1 Massamba Diop around the rim and Huff’s polished work inside. Izan Almansa’s rebounding off the bench gives Gonzaga another problem to throw at them.
“Obviously they’re really good, because they haven’t asked us this year about what we’re going to do on ball screen coverage or this or that,” Johnson said. “So I don’t think I’m too worried about our X’s and O’s this year.”
Johnson said his group isn’t built to match Gonzaga physically or athletically, but he’ll be satisfied if his team can stack together 8-12 minutes of “really, really competitive basketball.” He still remembers the start of the 2019 game, when the Warriors and Bulldogs were tied 11-11 before Few’s pressing defense triggered a 28-2 run.
“For us, we want to play hard,” Johnson said. “Not that Mark Few probably lays awake at night thinking about the LC State Warriors or anything like that, but I’d like to think one of the reasons we get asked back is we’re going to try to run some decent stuff.
We want this to be good for them, too. I’d like to think we’ve been competitive enough to give them a look, but also they can try different rotations.”
LCSC will lean on junior guard Dylan Skaife, who played for former Gonzaga forward Sean Mallon at Ferris High and is coming off an all-conference season. Skaife led the Cascade Conference in made 3-pointers with 90 last season, a total that also ranks fourth in a single season in LCSC history. He was the only Warrior to start all 32 games and enters this year as Johnson’s top returning scorer at 12.5 points per game.
“Can really shoot it, is our returning leading scorer, is off to a good start this year,” Johnson said. “I expect big things from him.”
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